I haven't cleaned our Bluestar oven yet so cannot comment specifically on that. I do know that oven bottom is removable. If you haven't tried Easy-Off Fume Free, it's an excellent product. I plan to clean the oven before Passover, but that's still over 6 months out.

Baking experiences:
* The 30" Bluestar has a huge oven and it does take longer to preheat than my old 24" electric oven. I also have a 24" but it is still not installed. I turn the oven on while assembling ingredients for whatever I plan to bake.
* The oven holds temperature extremely well. This is a heavy oven -- lots of thermal mass.
* Bluestar with convection does a great job roasting chicken and baking challah -- noticeably crustier/crisper, more evenly baked and just plain better, but I have not baked cookies in it. My DH commented on how much better chicken comes out in this oven just the other night. He has made similar comments regarding broiled salmon ("like a restaurant").

You are both looking at the 48" (a good -looking range, and my original choice before my rabbi told me that I would really prefer 2 completely separate ranges in my strictly kosher kitchen). The smaller oven should heat up quickly, but does not have convection. You might want to ask whether they could put a convection fan in the smaller oven too.

The very last decision I have to make for our remodel is what ovens. I have been undecided for months and actually thought of postponing putting in the oven...then I saw the bluestar french door double ovens. I love the way they look, but how do they work?The most info I've found about bluestar ovens--there's lots on the burners/ranges-is actually from ellene613--thank you!
anyone else? careme did you take the plunge?

eurostove said today they already have 40+ pre-orders and the ovens should be out in the next month.
thanks, lisa

We are also about to commit to a 48" bluestar. Did anyone here end up buying theirs? We are curious on the oven feedback...we share exactly the concerns posted here...convinced on the burners, but not sure on the ovens. We are going to head to Eurostove to cook on the range this weekend...any recommendations on what to try out? I half joked I might try to do 200 chocolate chip cookies at once! :-)

Our alternative is the 36" plus an electric wall oven...mostly because everyone says that electric ovens are so good. But I am wondering if that is whether it is the convection or the electric doing the great job. I have never had an electric oven, nor a convection, so I am wondering what I might be missing out on. Any advice is much appreciated!

I've had my 30" BS for about 5 months now and only cleaned it once inside. I do a lot of high-heat splattery stuff too (chickens, racks of lamb, whole fish, etc.) but honestly, I haven't had to do any more than a wipedown with soapy water. I did use vinegar and work very hard on the window with limited success.

I can speak specifically to the baking. It's wonderful. It takes no longer to preheat than my previous GE Profile electric wall oven. It holds its temperature remarkably well (as confirmed by both a thermometer and the results).

I have had excellent success with several kinds of cookies (multi-level using convection), several kinds of bread from scratch (beautiful outer crust with convection), meat pies, apple pies; essentially, everything I've tried to do.

It's a great oven. Admittedly (and understandably) the burners do garner more attention, but do not hesitate based on the ovens - they're awesome.

Just ordered my 48 inch BS yesterday!!! Cant wait to cook and bake in it!!!

Cleaning is not too bad but I must admit, I don't do it much. I read about some one here who puts their BS grate system in the dishwasher so I tried it and it worked great! Anyway, the joy of cooking on the BS far out weighs the downside of cleaning.

To breezy 2's point; the stovetop is no problem at all. All parts fit nicely into the DW and then I put them back on and run the burners for about 5 minutes to thoroughly dry everything. Very easy and they come out looking nice. My simmer burner, which sits behind my main 22K burner is pretty stained simply because it gets all the flying grease from my stir-fries and searing but I kinda like the look. It looks very "pro".

My wife is enamored with French door ovens (she was lusting after the Jade FD ovens but then Jade decided to not make them). So has anyone purchased and installed one of the Bluestar French Door ovens? How do they work? Is the French Door really as nice as it seems? My wife is a bit short and reaching over a wall oven door is a bit difficult for her, especially with a roasting pan full of meat or the cast iron skillet going straight from the cooktop to the oven.

CSPINTO - Did you get a Blue Star? How does the oven clean up? The thread did not address your original post. And Blue Star owners are usually very helpful and vocal - just look at the number of threads! So please, can someone address the cleaning question? Especially Type A clean freaks. I don't mind something showing signs of use; this isn't an aesthetics issue - I am wondering too about the difficulty of cleaning an oven, keeping it free from grease without fumes and a consequent aching back. Thanks! And please, if anyone needs to know about French Doors or another issue, how about a separate thread?

The cleaning question never really did get answered, did it. I have a 36" Bluestar and have cleaned the oven twice. It is much easier than other ovens that I've had in the past because the oven floor, the racks and the side rails for the racks all lift out. I put them on newspaper outside and spray with Easy Off. The oven floor is quite heavy, so if you have problems with lifting, that could be an issue. It's definitely not easier than turning a knob that says "self-clean", but I'm also rather afraid of self-clean, so use it very rarely (I also have a 30" electric self-clean oven in the kitchen). My prior range (a Dacor--never again) stopped working essentially every time I used self-clean, so I'm always nervous about using that option. Hope that helps.

I've had my Bluestar for 2+ years. I've removed the oven racks and their guides and taken the oven floor out and cleaned them with Barkeepers friend. I don't use the 'green' nylon scotchbrite pads because they will scratch my pans, although for the oven racks I do. I use a blue scrubbie pad and maybe some Barkeeper's Friend if I have a stain on the sides of the oven, but usually it's just a wipe down.

I don't normally like having harsh cleansers around, but the other day, I just about destroyed a new Le Crueset enameled French oven. The inside was baked with olive oil at 500+ degrees. So I reluctantly bought some Easy Off, No Fume oven cleaner and sprayed it on this sad French oven, and then set it outside. Four hours later the burnt oil lifted right out. My point is, I guess if I really do something nasty to the oven, this stuff should get it off, and it's not as caustic as the regular oven cleaner.

BTW, the oven does a great job baking bread. I also use my broiler and it works great.

Thank you, houscrzy, that does help. Any info that adds to either the 'pros' or 'cons' columns assists in the final decision. I appreciate it.

As a matter of fact, I cleaned the large oven last night. I had high-temp roasted a chicken a couple of weeks ago so the oven was splattered with baked-on grease. I just sprayed a light coating of Easy Off No Fume, watched tv for a couple of hours, then wiped everything clean with a damp sponge. I have to say, my fears of having to rub and scrub have proved to be unfounded. Most of the time I just wipe down the floor and walls with a soapy sponge and it's done. Actually, I've only done that a few times and the oven still looks good.

The only drawback for me is that I'm on the short side and I can't easily reach the back wall without feeling like I'm crawling into the maw of the beast. My solution? I don't look.

I wouldn't let having to clean the oven yourself stop anyone from buying a Blue Star. It turned out to be no big deal and using the oven is a pleasure.

I have cleaned my BlueStar oven (30") three times so far, which is about once a year. I do a fair amount of high temp roasting and broiling so by the end of the year the baked-on grease is pretty heavy. I've tried the fume free cleaner but have found the regular nasty stuff slightly more effective, and with the hood running on high and windows open while cleaning, the fumes don't bother me so much. I found it takes about 2 hours to get the oven back to near-new condition -- since I do it so seldom, I do try to be very thorough. One thing I have found is that removing the oven door makes it much easier to reach the inside of the oven. Removing the oven door is a bit tricky the first time but gets easier after you've done it a couple of times. All things considered, I consider the occasional cleaning drudgery to be a reasonable tradeoff for the range's cooking performance.

Not much of a tip, more cheating. Try using an oven cleaning company like SOC (Surrey Oven Cleaning), they do oven cleaning in Surrey, Kingston upon Thames, Sutton, Croydon, Guildford & Esher.

Here is a link that might be useful: oven cleaning in Surrey, Kingston upon Thames, Sutton, Croydon, Guildford & Esher